


too little too late

by alfredolover119



Series: shipmas 2019 [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Tree, Draco Malfoy is a Good Parent, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Future Fic, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Light Angst, Memories, Minor Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter, Sad Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21625207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alfredolover119/pseuds/alfredolover119
Summary: “Wingardium Leviosa!” Draco levitated the spruce tree into the stand carefully. Once in place, it stood at a mighty 10 feet tall. The usually bland room was now covered in Christmas reefs, Santa placards, and garland. Even with all of that, though, the tree was still the first thing you see when you walked in.Instead of gaping at the magnificent thing, Astoria gasped, pointing at Draco’s wand, still in hand from putting the tree up. “Draco Lucius Malfoy! I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to use magic to decorate this year!”He smiled sheepishly. “How else were we supposed to put a ten foot tall tree up?”
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy
Series: shipmas 2019 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558579
Kudos: 31





	too little too late

**Author's Note:**

> Day two of shipmas 2019! Today's prompt was: "Are you sure this is how the muggles decorate their Christmas trees without magic?"
> 
> This was actually one of the prompts last year as well, so I had wrote most of it already, I just never got around to posting.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Draco levitated the spruce tree into the stand carefully. Once in place, it stood at a mighty 10 feet tall. The usually bland room was now covered in Christmas reefs, Santa placards, and garland. Even with all of that, though, the tree was still the first thing you see when you walked in.

Instead of gaping at the magnificent thing, Astoria gasped, pointing at Draco’s wand, still in hand from putting the tree up. “Draco Lucius Malfoy! I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to use magic to decorate this year!”

He smiled sheepishly. “How else were we supposed to put a ten foot tall tree up?”

She scrunched her nose up, eyes squinting. “All right, but I’m watching you.” She feigned a glare, Draco putting his hands up in surrender before placing his wand on a nearby table. 

He wrapped his arms around her, her pregnant stomach protruding between them. “One more month.” Draco leaned his head on hers. 

Astoria chuckled. “I hope he'll wait that long.” Her stomach lurched as if the baby was trying to tell them that he wanted out now.

Draco sighed happily and pulled away, looking up at the towering tree. “I guess we should probably get to work on that.” 

“I’ll go grab some decorations.” Astoria took a few steps towards the door before Draco intercepted her.

“I don’t think so! Weren’t we just talking about how you are eight months pregnant? You know the Healers told you to stay off of your feet and not to be picking up things.” He guided her into a nearby seat. “I can do the heavy lifting, you just relax.”

“Draco! I don’t want to be useless. I can’t do anything if I’m just sitting around. I know my limits.” Astoria stood up again, placing a hand on her belly to prevent it from shaking.

Draco narrowed his eyes in thought. “I’ll carry stuff and get the top of the tree, you get the bottom and middle?” He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Fine. But don’t bother me when your back is hurting, later.” She chuckled and sat back down. “On with it, then.”

Draco shook his head happily and went off to grab decorations. He came back a few minutes later with a box of silver and gold garland. He looked at it helplessly for a moment before glancing at Astoria. She giggled.

“Having troubles?” She walked over to him and somehow had it untangled in minutes. She held it at the bottom of the tree while Draco walked around and around the tree. He soon found himself wrapped in garland, somehow, and was face to face with Astoria, who was equally tangled up. She planted a chaste kiss on his chin.

“Are you sure this is how Muggles do it?” he asked with a quirk of the brow. She smiled and twirled out of the tangle of garland.

Draco watched as she twirled and twirled until she was simply a dot in the distance. 

“Dad? Are you okay?” Scorpius was standing in the doorway to the office. Draco blinked and jerked his head back to the photo album he’d been staring at. 

“I’m fine, just a bit tired… dozing off here, it’s nothing.” Draco attempted to close the album before Scorpius’s keen eyes found it, but he had already crossed the room in his concern. His slim fingers hit the page right before Draco slammed it shut. 

“You don’t have to hide her from me. I don’t think she would have liked that very much.” Scorpius slid the album away from Draco and opened it. He flipped around for a moment before breaking the silence. “She liked Christmas a lot… I remember her running around the house before she got sick, not using a bit of magic to do any of it..” 

Draco ran a hand through his whitening hair. “I’m sorry for trying to keep it from you, I just didn’t want to bring down your holiday spirits. This time of year is, ah, particularly difficult for me. No point in both of us being down.” Scorpius looked at him for a moment and before Draco knew what was happening, he was being hugged.

“You overthink things, Dad. I try not to stress about her over the holidays because I feel it dishonors the Christmas cheer she put in the house.” He pulled away. “I really don’t think she would like you sitting around moping while me and Al decorate, either. We’re about finished, now, though. Come look?”

Draco wordlessly followed his son from the room. Scorpius’s words did little to cheer him up, though. This was the tenth Christmas they’d spent without her. He knew Scorpius was right, though, and tried his best to put on a smile.

He did not have to fake it for long, though. As soon as he was in the living room, he found it looked exactly as it had on his and Astoria’s first Christmas at the Manor. A ten-foot-tall tree commanded attention, wrapped in silver and gold garland and covered in many red and green baubles. He noticed Albus standing in the doorway leading from the entrance hall looking down at a photo and waving his wand every now and then to move or add more decoration. 

“What do you think?” Scorpius asked, walking over to stand near Albus, who, not having realized they had entered, jumped.

“It’s perfect. Where did you-?”

“There’s more than one photo album in this house.”

“Why did you-?”

“To celebrate one of her finest creations of course! She’s been gone for ten years, and the decorating of the house has simply gone downhill since then. I am officially saying it's time to be done with moping about all the time. She wouldn't have wanted that."

Draco almost gaped. His son was so much like Astoria. He was right though. She would have been very disappointed in how Draco had been behaving since she passed.

Draco put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Thank you, Scorpius. I.. I needed to hear that." He went to pull away, but Scorpius nearly tackled him in a hug. 

"You're the best dad I could ask for." 

"And you're the best son."

A loud crack echoed around the room. Scorpius jumped away from Draco, who pulled his wand out. 

"Sorry!" Albus had dropped a Christmas ornament and shattered it. Scorpius gave him a little smile. Draco simply watched.

"He's hopeless," Scorpius said out of the corner of his mouth to Draco before going to help Albus fix it.

They argued for a moment about whether they should fix it or throw it away, ultimately deciding there were enough ornaments on the tree and throwing it away. 

Some things did have to be thrown away. Draco supposed that applied to emotions as well. With that, he consciously tried to throw away his grief. It had been ten Christmases, after all.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Check me out on tumblr @ whatsshakingbanana and be sure to keep an eye out for more works this month :)


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